JERUSALEM: Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said yesterday that her Spanish counterpart Miguel Angel Moratinos informed her that Spain would scale back the authority of its courts following a much-publicized investigation into alleged Israel war crimes.
“I just heard from the Spanish Foreign Minister, Moratinos, that Spain has decided to change its legislation in connection with universal jurisdiction and this can prevent the abuse of the Spanish legal system,” Livni said. “I think this is very important news and I hope that other states in Europe will do the same.” A Spanish judge began an investigation on Thursday into seven current or former Israeli officials over a 2002 bombing in Gaza that killed a top Hamas leader, Salah Shehadeh, and 14 other people, including nine children.
The judge acted under a doctrine that allows prosecution in Spain, and other European countries, to reach far beyond national borders in cases of torture or war crimes. The “universal jurisdiction” ruling sparked outrage in Israel and elsewhere.
Former military chief of staff Moshe Yaalon told Israel’s Army Radio that he was “not worried” about standing trial. Yaalon, now a candidate for Parliament for the Likud Party, said the goal of the Spanish court decision was to delegitimize Israel and “present us as war criminals.”
Mohammad Shihadeh, Salah’s brother in response to Yaalon’ statement said, “We the Palestinians do not believe in the international community or in any court, but if this results in some sort of punishment for these criminals, then why not.”
Mohammad, a shepherd who resides just a few hundred meters from the Erez crossing at the Gaza-Israel border, said “the lawsuit will at best ease the Palestinians’ minds.”
According to Mohammed, the international community was unified in its support for Israel. “The whole world was against us in this war (Israeli offensive in Gaza), and this is why the Spanish court does not give us much hope. We can only count on Allah.”
Mohammed said the strengthening of Hamas was the answer to those who believed that his brother’s assassination would hurt the resistance movement. “The assassination did nothing, and the situation on the ground speaks for itself.
With input from agencies
